http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2015/11/big-problem-electric-cars-theyre-too-reliable The Big Problem With Electric Cars: They're Too Reliable Nov. 24, 2015 Kevin Drum
[image http://www.motherjones.com/files/blog_electric_car.jpg ] Matt Richtel has an intriguing article today in the New York Times about electric cars. The question is: why aren't they selling better? Is it because they have weak performance? Because they can only go a hundred miles on a charge? Because they're expensive? Those are all issues. *1 But it turns out that people who want to buy an electric car anyway have a hard time getting dealerships to sell them one: Kyle Gray, a BMW salesman, said he was personally enthusiastic about the technology, but...the sales process takes more time because the technology is new, cutting into commissions....Marc Detsch, Nissan’s business development manager for electric vehicles said some salespeople just can’t rationalize the time it takes to sell the cars. A salesperson “can sell two gas burners in less than it takes to sell a Leaf,” he said. “It’s a lot of work for a little pay.” He also pointed to the potential loss of service revenue. “There’s nothing much to go wrong,” Mr. Deutsch said of electric cars. “There’s no transmission to go bad.”....Jared Allen, a spokesman for the National Automobile Dealers Association, said there wasn’t sufficient data to prove that electric cars would require less maintenance. But he acknowledged that service was crucial to dealer profits and that dealers didn’t want to push consumers into electric cars that might make them less inclined to return for service. I suppose this makes sense. And to all this, you can add the fact that none of these cars can fly. There are so many hurdles to overcome before we make it into the Jetson's future we were all promised. *1 We are, of course, talking about the non-Tesla market here. [© motherjones.com] http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/01/science/electric-car-auto-dealers.html?_r=0 A Car Dealers Won’t Sell: It’s Electric NOV. 24, 2015 ... buyers even tell stories of dealers talking them into gas cars and of ill-informed salespeople uncertain how far the cars can go on a charge or pushing oil changes that the cars don’t need. And industry officials themselves acknowledge a hesitancy to sell cars that may not suit drivers’ needs ... ... http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2015/1124/Why-aren-t-electric-car-sales-in-the-US-any-higher Why aren't electric car sales in the US any higher? November 24, 2015 Electric vehicles require less maintenance and more time to sell, so car dealerships have business reasons to be reluctant about selling electric cars. ... http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/technologyinvesting/a-car-dealers-won%E2%80%99t-sell-it%E2%80%99s-electric/ar-BBnoIxI?li=BBnb7Kv A Car Dealers Won’t Sell: It’s Electric [Nov. 24, 2015] More than seven years ago, President Obama called for one million electric cars to be on the road by this year, and the vehicles have gained a large fan club. Environmentalists promote them as a smart way to cut … For EVLN EV-newswire posts use: http://evdl.org/evln/ {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-The-Big-Problem-With-Electric-Cars-They-re-Too-Reliable-tp4678941.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
